Filament trimmers are well known lawn and garden implements. Such a trimmer includes a rotatable trimmer head that has an outwardly extending flexible filament. When the trimmer head is rotated by a drive contained on the trimmer, the filament is spun in a cutting plane to be able to sever grass or other ground growing vegetation. The drive for rotating the trimmer head may be an electrical motor operated by an electrical power source, e.g. a battery on the trimmer or an electric power cord. The drive may also be a drive shaft operated by an internal combustion engine carried on the trimmer.
Some filament trimmers are specifically designed for use in both a trim mode and an edge mode. In the trim mode, the trimmer head is placed generally parallel to the ground such that the filament is rotated in a generally horizontal cutting plane to trim grass or weeds at a height above the ground depending on how close the trimmer head is positioned adjacent the ground. In the edge mode, the trimmer is reoriented from its orientation in the trim mode. In the edge mode, the trimmer head is generally perpendicular to the ground such that the filament is rotated in a generally vertical cutting plane to edge grass along a sidewalk or the like, i.e. to cut off the grass at ground level along the edge of the sidewalk.
In prior trimmers designed with both trim and edge modes, the upper handle of the trimmer contains a single trigger for starting and stopping rotation of the trimmer head. In addition, the upper handle of the trimmer pivots to selectively reposition the upper handle when using the trimmer in both the trim and edge modes. This repositioning is done by providing the upper handle with two different operating positions and by pivoting the handle from one operating position to the other operating position to use the trimmer in one mode of operation or the other. However, some operators do not intuitively understand how to pivot the handle and thus find it difficult to initially figure out how to reposition the upper handle to use the trimmer in both the trim and edge modes of operation. In addition, the need to stop the trimmer and manually reposition the upper handle is inconvenient and thus discourages some operators from switching between the two available modes of operation.